Rangelands

Butterfly heaven! Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the butterfly and moth collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, is in butterfly heaven.

"Just call it a "Day of Insect Art!" Sunday afternoon, Jan. 21 promises to be a day of inspiration, creativity and delight when the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts an open house, "Bug-Art@The Bohart" from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane.

Most ranchers track production pounds of calves or lambs sold, seasonal gain on stocker cattle or feeder lambs, or pounds of wool shorn are all measures of ranch productivity.

How are the bees doing? When the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) meets Jan. 9-13 at the Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, Nev. for its 75th annual American Beekeeping Federation Conference & Tradeshow, the key concern is bee health. Sadly, colony losses continue to take their toll.

Insects as art! The shapes, the colors...Bees, beetles, butterflies... Capture images of the bees, create sculptures from beetle galleries, and depict insect motifs on clothing... Don't miss the unique exhibition, It's Bugged: Insects' Role in Design, set Jan.

A unique exhibition, It's Bugged: Insects' Role in Design, set Jan.

A major citrus pest may experience a Bah, Humbug! kind of year.

While folks from Alaska to Colorado to New York to Maine are shivering in freezing temperatures, here in sunny California--well, at least parts of the Golden State are sunny--bumble bees are foraging on winter blooms. Bumble bees? On the first day of the year? Yes.

It's a moth like no other. Did you read the abstract published Jan. 17 in the journal ZooKeys about the newly discovered and named moth, Neopalpa donaldtrumpi? No? Well, you probably read the news story. It went viral.

Dragonflies! Who isn't fascinated by dragonflies? They're an ancient insect. Their ancestors existed before dinosaurs. Indeed, fossil records show that they were the world's largest flying insects, some with wingspans measuring three feet.